Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?
by Metiera
Summary: With the time travel device close to up and running, thanks to Alec, will it transport Kiera back to where she longs to be? Or, as is often the case, will her stay in 2013 last a bit longer due to forces beyond her control? And, if so...would it be such a bad thing? This is a one-shot.


Carlos was no sentimentalist—the furthest thing from. Movies touted as tearjerkers left him dry-eyed, mocking the so-called romance when his mood moved him. Valentine's Day was a hoax, a successful gimmick used to part amorous, well-meaning saps from their grimy, hard-earned cash, all in the supposed glorious name of _l'amour toujours_.

Uh huh…right. Whoopee. Different strokes, for different folks, and all that jazz.

He'd been bitten by the 'love bug' once, and that had been one time too many. He'd healed, as best he could, but falling as hard as he had, had come with a price. Scar tissue was always tougher than one's originally unmarred skin. If he ever, and that was a very iffy 'ever,' fell in love again, he had vowed to make sure his heart wouldn't be the one pounded before breaking into so many bitty pieces. He was so over and done with being one of the walking love-wounded.

Just saying no to love suited him just fine.

True, that was, until…a very special certain someone sixty plus years from the future had happened along, making a tremendous crash when shaking up his careful life. This, whatever it was, he had going with Kiera, as often one-sided and as bumpy as it was, would end one day. Increasingly, and with gut-churning deliberation, he thought about what his life was going to be like post-Kiera.

They were sitting in the very same coffeehouse she had thought she might be spending the night in if it hadn't been for his phone call demanding that she come home, her new one for as long as she needed it to be. It was a little past eleven o'clock this night. She sat across from him, going on and on about Alec _the great_, on the verge of cataclysmic success with the ARC. The boy cerebral wonder, with some minimal help Kiera had lent, had actually reassembled the time travel device from the purloined slices.

Could it be possible? Jealous of a fresh-faced kid, destined to become a man of untold mysteries, according to Kiera? Carlos rankled...maybe.

Carlos sat staring at her, unable to prevent himself from feeling glum and not the least bit irritated. Just ducky; she was going home. He'd be going home to an empty apartment, and he rather liked the idea of not being there alone. He would be though, when she exited from his life.

Kiera extended her hands to him wearing a warm smile, which was a pale indication of just how jubilant she truly felt. This could be it, really it. She had every plausible reason to believe that going home was a reality, her fondest wish realized. Words could not properly express her profound joy. A concrete indication lay in the outpouring of sincerity as she expressed for as many times, "Carlos, I can't thank you enough for what you did. Turning that blind eye with the evidence. If someone were to find out, I know it will, under the present circumstances, what with the department operating under PIRON, cost you your job." Her hands rested on his, cocooning them. Gently, her thumbs rubbed little circles against the sides of his index fingers. "I owe you everything, have, since Day One. Your support's never stopped." Her eyes went conspicuously glassy, moisture leakage imminent.

She caught herself.

Carlos mashed his upper lip down excruciatingly hard upon his lower one, overcome with emotion for this woman he'd grown to love, but had no other choice than to surrender for the sake of her happiness. He was doing everything he could so she would not see him cross his eyes in frustration. When he would be without her, a sadness would dog him for a long time to come. He quit thinking altogether, proactively making his pangs of distress go away as best he could.

He was powerless to change what he wanted with all his might to alter. Who was he, after all, in the grander scheme of things, really? Just some 2013 cop with a badge, a bad case of the blues and the nail-biting angst that went with it. If she could only stay with him, not return to the life she'd come from. Yet, what right did he have being a thorn in her side? She never asked. The problem being, she never asked.

In love with a married woman, mother of a son she relentlessly adored? He was this sorry guy? You bet, hook, line and sinker, sinking like a millstone in a sea of despair.

It wasn't fair, now that she had resuscitated his love-forswearing heart, a heart dead set on rejecting that tender, eat-a-person-alive emotion at every turn. _Love sucks_, formed in his topsy-turvy mind, battling melancholy. She was leaving him, couldn't wait to jump forward in time fast enough, seeing her anticipation that much clearer, in her shimmering blue eyes.

He felt his eyes tear up with his anticipation of having to deal with the enervating pain of loss.

Had the corner of her perfect mouth just quivered? He opened his eyes wider, ignoring if a tear or two fell, unsure, so much more unsure of himself. He never liked feeling this way, not ever, such a liability that never boded well for whatever might come.

Off balance, and as though he were marooned on an island in the Pacific, he sighed heavily.

"Tired?" Kiera prompted, taking him apart piece by piece with those dangerously angelic, dangerously hungry eyes that never missed a thing.

What if he told her? What if he just came right out and said:

'Kiera, _mi reina_, my love…the best partner and friend I've ever had. I…love…_you_.

'Please…don't go. Stay with me, please…'

_You really are one pathetic, sophomoric chump, you know that_, he maligned, torturing himself as perfection slipped her hands around his wrists.

"Hey, you don't seem yourself," Kiera purred, eyeing him sympathetically. "What is it? Anything I can do?"

_She always purrs_, Carlos thought to himself, _when she wants…something…ask away…I'm in too deep to stop now_.

This time, however, it was he who was needy, down at the heels, emotionally.

Maybe telling her he was in love, deeply in love with her, warranted that he squeeze her hands back. Bend his at the wrists, flip them over so her hands would be nesting within his, holding on to them, loathing letting her go. Then, action necessitated that he leave his seat as love-struck as he was, come to sit closely right beside her. Whispering in her ear all which he felt in a voice fighting back sobs would come oh, so naturally.

Effortlessly, he was pulled under, lost in the moment.

Kiera squeezed his right hand more firmly. "Come back, come back, wherever you are."

Blinking, he gazed at her, unabashedly wretched. "So, how soon?"

"How soon?" Kiera prefaced, her face a mosaic of destiny reborn, but being rooted in the here and now, rekindled.

"You zap back…" Mid-sentence, Carlos rose from his seat, his eyes never leaving her intense face. Deftly, he tucked himself into the booth, intimately next to her, his arm mooring itself around her shoulders. Kiera settled into the cuddle. His deep voice resonated in her receptive ears. "To the future?" His voice shook a little with that last word.

The sudden intimacy seemed to affect her in a way he had never witnessed before. Trembling, Kiera began fondling his face as he wondered whether she'd give him an answer he could more or less live with.

Her contact affected him; there was little doubt, as he clung tighter to her.

"I have no idea. Alec made it quite clear, to a fine point. Before there's any thought of my going back, he must perform a great deal more experimentation. Rigorous research and development. I won't be going tomorrow. Rest assured." _Oh, he was_, with her having said that. She had sounded downcast, then forced herself to chase the pessimism from her outlook as well as her voice. "The good, or bad, depending how you look at it, news is I'll be here a good deal longer."

Light rallied in his eyes, slowly smoldering.

He dared. He had to; there was no other choice. She'd understand. She had to. What was the worst that could happen? She pulled away, telling him to get a grip on himself? This was no time to fall apart?

They both knew parting was inevitable?

It wouldn't be the first time he misread mixed signals, and she was sending them like they were going out of style, no question.

Carefully, stringent about not making any sudden, awkward move, he deliberately closed in on her head. His lips led the way, her soft temple in striking distance. He delighted when he felt her drawing closer.

"Looks like you're still stuck with me," Kiera chided, but the closer his lips got to her scalp, the more tremulous she got, and not as flippant. Her breathing quickened, her intuition heightening. "Don't act so disappointed," she deflected, aware that there was no hint of levity in his demeanor or tone.

She'd already been unfaithful to Greg, with Kellog. What was happening in this cramped, low-lit booth within these roughhewn brick walls felt more of a betrayal, somehow. Feelings for this man clouded issues, having happened before, several times.

Carlos scoffed, making a low chuffing sound deep in his throat, a throat that had gone incredibly dry. "You're reading disappointment? Seriously?" She'd just handed him better news than he thought he would get. He smiled, really doing the curve of his lips justice. "Kiera…" Said as though she would understand how he really felt by the way he'd breathed it.

His voice resonating in her left ear, Kiera ground several fingers against her lips, her trembling noticeable. "What are you reading?" She felt her heart skipping beats, beats going a mile a minute, strong, unstoppable beats.

Nothing resembling coherent speech found its way past his lips. After they had grazed to their heart's content for a time in her soft, downy hair, which vaguely smelled like his shampoo, huskily, Carlos croaked, "It won't be easy saying goodbye." With a small bit of coaxing, he had her head resting on his shoulder, while he listened to the sound of her acceptance, a belabored sigh. "Close to impossible, despite its having to be said. I know this. I've come to terms."

"Without discussing it with me?" Kiera coached, turning her face into his.

Nervous, but forthright, he cleared his throat. "Lost my…" Voice trailing, he got lost momentarily in the depth of her fathomless eyes, peering into his. "Nerve more times than I care to admit," he owned up, knowing he had nothing to feel ashamed about, doing battle with his emotions like a pro wrestler.

Fearlessly, as was her way, Kiera confessed, "I won't say goodbye. We'll see each other again." She faltered, the hitch in her voice short-lived, then unreservedly promised, "I'll introduce you to Sam."

A tad grouchy, Carlos blurted, "Uh huh. You'll look me up, if I survive this line of work and get to retire that is. Me, fossilized, curmudgeony, wearing a diaper in, of course, the pissy nursing home you locate me in. You'll catch me at feeding time, when I'm either being fed, or dribbling on myself because I stubbornly refuse to be spoon-fed like a bratty baby. Which, I will be, bratty that is." He had to wink. "You know me."

That made her laugh, so loud that the few patrons still there turned to look their way. "Carlos!" Kiera hadn't meant to, but his cantankerous delivery made the laughter come all too readily. His sardonic nature could be such a tonic. The number of times his cynicism had pulled her through the worst of times was astounding. He was her lifeline too, every bit as Alec was. She needed to tell this complex man that, but she held back, concerned that she'd say it wrong. Thumping her hand against his broad, brawny chest, she sneered. "You'll be old, granted. But, you'll still be the strong, rugged man I can't help but think you'll keep being."

"When I'm…" He furiously did the math, putting everything into his sneer when the calculation was in. "About ninety plus, plus, plus years old! C'mon you've gotta be kidding."

Stroking his face fondly, Kiera, going on pure impulse, eyed his lips that seemed to beckon her onward. "Knowing you—yes!"

"At any rate, I'll have Alzheimer's."

"No, you won't. There isn't any. Not then."

"You're really kidding."

"No, I'm not." Her impassive facial expression bore the truthfulness of her words out. Kiera tweaked his nose, her eyes brimming with passion and sincerity.

"I will miss you," he murmured, meeting her lips halfway.

Kiera, closing her eyes when their lips brushed, rode out the jolts of passion overtaking reason. Carlos cinched her tighter to himself while irrepressible fireworks exploded intensely behind their eyes and in their souls.

"This _isn't_ goodbye", she insisted, sighing against his plush lips, avidly worshipping hers. "Never going to happen." Her mind did a one-eighty; his manly scent of sandalwood mingled with the heady aroma all his own overwhelmed her.

"I believe you, Kiera," Carlos swore, bewitched by everything about her. "Every word." He gave himself all the time she needed as he felt her supple mouth open to his.

Despite the speculation of random onlookers, this was no PDA, nor some half-baked vagary; this was what Kiera and Carlos had become to each other.

Family...bridging the continuum with open hearts and unobstructed minds…


End file.
